


Ultimately Regretful Eavesdropping

by archergwen



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, I Don't Even Know, I just wanted the juicy bits at the end, I tried so hard to keep myself from worldbuilding, Mai needs some respect dammit, Pakku as Lady de Burgh, Ursa is his sister or something, and most of the characters in this fic don't have them, but this fic isn't going to give it to her, crying over how Regency forms of address need last names, it's 1:45 in the morning, pride and prejudice au, regency au, someone else take this from me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:29:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25499875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/archergwen/pseuds/archergwen
Summary: Mai wanted to like the barbarian, Miss Katara Siku. Too bad she was being rightfully sent packing, and it was Mai's duty to help her realize it.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar), background Sokka/Yue
Comments: 4
Kudos: 52





	Ultimately Regretful Eavesdropping

**Author's Note:**

> Used Google Translate/Fantasy Name Generator to grab some Meaningful Last Names (TM) and then wrote this in one sitting. If you have better/real suggestions, PLEASE let me know and I'll change them. I wanted to be sure I kept the social conventions of using last names as much as possible unless you're close, for Reasons, and canon only gave Toph a family name. *shakes fist*

Mai wanted to like the barbarian, Miss Katara Siku. She was not allowed to - both her friend Miss Azula Hibana and her father Mr. Nokoribi had pressed that important fact into her. It had to be admitted - at two and twenty Miss Siku was accomplished enough, pretty enough - ~~ _beautiful if she would soften her biting wit_~~ -, and had decent enough connections in smaller circles that could not be sniffed at - if you were limited to her smaller circles. The only daughter and second born child of minor Northern gentry could not be given the cut, but she should not have been as encouraged as she had been. Tolerating her brother was fine enough - he stood to inherit the estate, at least, though money was tight enough it was known he could not afford to marry down and could likely not afford to stay in London for more than one season - for he was intelligent and witty, when he made the effort, and handsome enough to look at from time to time, if one liked the near barbarian. But to tolerate his sister as well? Raised with no governess, no true ladies maid, no mother due to family tragedy still kept hush, when she clearly by her presence expected to be competition for suitors of wealth and standing? Impossible.

This was why Mai was calmly stepping out of her carriage now, in front of the modest townhome let by the barbarian Northerners for the season. Mai knew she was straining the bonds of politeness, but after the minor scandal with her brother, Mr. Hahn Karpok, and Miss Yue Tatkret, Mai felt certain it would not be noted by those who mattered. Her friends excepted of course, but they would no doubt approve and encourage her actions. After all, they together - along with Mr. Hibana - had managed three months ago to convince Miss Tatkret that the younger Mr. Siku was only fortune hunting, that he was no more polite to her than he would have been to any other heiress he was frequently in the company of, sad as it may be to her own heart.

They could not, of course, be blamed that those who should have protected her failed in their duties last month. Mr. Karpok should have been found out before and her guardians more careful. Miss Siku had been brave to risk her own reputation to save Miss Tatkret from being compromised - well, if that was how the story truly went. For now, Miss Tatkret corroborated the story, and she did have higher standing that Mr. Karpok so for now her word bolstered with Miss Siku's was believed.

Mai had known the men who lived in the first circles all her life, an advantage Miss Siku did not have. Before long, Miss Tatkret would succumb to the pressure to confess this was all a fabrication of Miss Siku to discredit Mr. Karpok for, well, whatever her own practically peasant reasons might be. Perhaps she intended to marry him herself? He did carry a modest enough fortune without a pesky estate as the son of a tradesmen, much like Mai herself was the granddaughter of one who'd clawed his way into respectable company. Any modest fortune would be enough for Miss Siku's accustomed living expenses, elevated beyond her current means as they likely were, and without the estate she likely was not trained to run, her life would be comfortable enough.

As she carefully moved up the steps to the door, Mai still puzzled over the last snarl in her imagined scheme. It did not explain the closeness of Miss Siku with Mr. Hibana.

Her own thoughts trembled as she passed over his given name. As childhood friends, with him and his sister, she knew it, and well. But to think it now, out and unmarried, invited a return to old habits that presumed an intimacy that had, regretfully, stalled and withered with the passing of time despite her best efforts. Perhaps it was due to the loss of his cousin coupled with his uncle refusing to remarry, meaning Mr. Hibana would inherit much more than he had been initially raised to. More likely, it was the loss of his mother so young, so mysteriously, and then his father four years ago when the young man had barely reached twenty with his sister still needing looking after. Azula could be a handful, even with his uncle the Earl eager to assist.

She did not understand how there was still not any indication of a courtship to come - despite her friend's constant assurances - when he _knew_ how well she had been bred and trained to manage an estate as large as his. She even knew his estate well from their childhood together and continued friendship with his sister. She was the sensible choice; he would see. He had seen clearly enough with Mr. Siku, once she taught him how to look. She would teach him again, and as it appeared to require removing some ~~_ultimately doomed_~~ competition so be it. Her father had taught her how important it was to see a task through yourself if you wanted it done correctly.

Curiosity raised by the sound of raised voices inside, Mai rapped on the door before her.

A modestly attired footman opened the door, a small look of pain on his face. He did allow her to enter, at least, and closed the door behind her. The footman reached for the calling card she had lifted up out of habit that he might announce her, but - as she finally caught the words and recognized the voices in the sitting room - Mai pulled it back.

"One moment. It would be impolite to interrupt."

The footman only glanced at her, as if he wished to chide her for eavesdropping, but he knew his place and remained silent.

"-You ceded your moral authority, Mr. Nanuq, the minute you became aware of the character of Mr. Karpok and failed to act! You let the wolf among the lambs without so much as a warning. Graver still, you, the man responsible for the martial training of those in your care, gave not a single defense to the ladies should the worst befall them. Lucky indeed for Miss Tatkret my tutors had not been so neglectful in their instruction. I care not a jot for whatever control you presume to exert over my life."

That could only be Miss Siku, as fiery as ever.

"You have made that very clear many times over, Miss Siku. Your insolence and presumption knows no bounds."

Mai was too well practiced need a sleeve to her mouth to contain her laughter - simple discipline was enough. It seemed the time had come. Miss Tatkret had crumbled to pressure, and now the men sought to crumble Miss Siku as well, likely to try and save some of her reputation out of charity. But if Miss Siku thought she had never bowed to anyone, Mr. Pakku Nanuq had never bowed to anyone and he had lived far longer, and lived with the benefit of his male sex and the _~~unfair~~_ advantages that offered him. True or not, the story this intruder had been telling of Mr. Karpok would now fade away like morning mist, followed by Miss Siku's wise retreat, and the London circles would return to normal again.

Perhaps Mr. Hibana could even be persuaded to stay in London past the end of the season. Would that not be nice?

"And yet," Mr. Nanuq continued, voice like a glacier moving ever forward, "there are bounds even you cannot overcome. As his uncle by marriage, I demand again your assurances that Mr. Hibana will never again seek your hand."

The floor dropped out from under Mai's world.

"I repeat again, Mr. Nanuq, I will not dishonor your esteemed nephew by pretending to speak to his free will or his heart. He may make me as many proposals as he pleases for all I care."

"Then I ask your word, on your honor, that you will accept none of them."

"I will make no such promises either! You try my very patience as well as the bounds of hospitality, Mr. Nanuq."

A chair creaked. Mai would not be so cheap as to ever let that happen in her home. She was a better hostess, a better lady of the house. She was better. She was the obvious choice. Azula said so. Azula would never lie to her. She would not. Mai _was_ the obvious choice.

Wasn't she?

"Then he has offered again?"

"I doubt he would be so foolish to do so against your will, seeing as he has kept hidden from even his closest friends as well as the public how much he esteems your advice and counsel even over his uncle the Earl."

"Do not dance around my questions you silly girl! Has he offered again or not?"

Miss Siku's voice was as cold as ice as she replied, "Mr. Nanuq, let me show you to the door."

Mai immediately turned to the footman and finally offered him her card. Expression refreshingly neutral and professional, he stepped towards the sitting room just as Mr. Nanuq threw the cracked door wide. Their eyes met, and his narrowed in suspicion. She gave him not an inch, however, too busy fighting to right the turmoil inside her foolish eaves dropping had wrought to try and spar silently with the old man.

The footman cleared his throat. "Miss Mai Nokoribi, sir," and he turned to Miss Siku - visible and seated quite comfortably though her face was stone. "-ma'am."

"Thank you, Haru. Please show Miss Nokoribi in. I believe Mr. Nanuq insists on finding his own way home, and I would not wish to contradict his wisdom and experience."

The elder gentleman gave Mai a stiff nod and left, not even bothering to reply to Miss Siku - a little bit of foundation re-solidified for Mai. The insult and the meaning could not have been clearer. Perhaps she could take a more subtler approach, then, for Miss Siku could not mistake the meaning that Mr. Nanuq wanted her gone.

Mai took the offered seat with grace and met the welcoming smile with one of her own.

"What an unexpected pleasure, Miss Nokoribi. Shall I send for some tea?"

"I would not want to deprive you of your own pleasures, Miss Siku, but I do not intend to stay for as long as I would like, particularly if I should like to enjoy tea in your company."

Blue eyes narrowed slightly, calculating. "I hope I can relieve you of whatever stress you are under, then, that brings you most irregularly into my parlor."

"Of course; I hope the same. You see, I heard the most curious rumor, that Mr. Hibana had offered for you, and that you rejected him." It was the only conclusion Mai could draw from the little she heard, as far out of his confidences as she was now. As Azula must be now. Her friend would never keep something like this from her. "Knowing you are from but a small estate in the North, and that unfortunate business with your brother, I could not understand how such a rumor got started, and resolved to seek answers from the source. As I have felt us growing closer, I felt it only proper to call on you."

Miss Siku smiled without warmth, not that Mai ever expected a true smile from her anyway. "If we are to be so close, to share such confidences, then I must insist you call me Katara."

Mai had underestimated her opponent. It was a trap well sprung, a blow rightfully landed. "And of course, you must call me Mai."

Katara nodded slightly. "Of course. And then rumor is true. Mr. Hibana proposed to me three months ago, and I rejected him."

"The timing was fortunate for him, then, that you rejected him before your brother was so publicly snubbed by Miss Tatkret, though perhaps she would have ceased toying with his heart more gently had you made such an advantageous match."

"You misunderstand, Mai. He proposed not long after."

"Forgive me, but you must be confused on your dates, then, for there is no possible way he could do such a thing, not with all his duties and with more suitable matches known to him."

Katara's gaze was steel burning out of her brown visage with resolve and barely hidden anger. "Oh no, I am absolutely certain. I can never forget the insults he heaped upon me, including the ones referencing my brother. Of this year in London, I am sure beyond doubt of the timeline of my life; even should I lose my diary I will remember these events most clearly."

Mai swallowed bile. "Then you are a selfless woman, to set aside your own advancement to protect the gentleman from scandal."

"An advantage to him, I am sure, if he thinks on it. Yet I did it only for me. You see, Mai, my brother and I promised each other after our mother passed that we would seek marriages like the one our parents had, and never compromise. It would be the deepest affection, truest love, and genuine respect for us both, or no marriage at all. Our father got the whole story when he caught us making off with a knife to swear it as a blood promise, in the dramatic way children are." Katara leaned a little back, eyeing Mai. "In a way, I must thank you and your posse of meddling hens. If Miss Tatkret truly felt nothing for my brother, nothing that could not hold firm against the whispers of other women meddling in affairs not their own, then you saved him a lifetime of disappointment for breaking his dearest promise to himself."

A lift of her chin was all Mai allowed herself. "I would not wish to associate myself with anyone who could be accused of what you imply, Katara."

"I do not imply, Mai, I do in fact accuse." She waved a hand as she straightened her posture. "But it is the past, is it not? We shall focus our remembrances on the happy things that give us joy, and speak no more of this. You can happily report to your gaggle of gossips that the rumor is truth - it will be a most diverting topic of conversation I am sure, the comely daughter of minor gentry who refused an Earl's heir. At least I have not pretended a right to anyone's heart but my own."

The footman opened the door again to the parlor, but his mistress interrupted him. "Who can it be now, Haru? Has my parlor and my company overnight become the most desirous in London?"

A rasp familiar to both woman replied, "Um, good morning Miss Siku. It's Mr. Hibana here."

Mai stood abruptly. "I will leave you to your business, then, Katara. I appreciate your candor and honesty, and wish you the best in holding onto that in the face of men such as Mr. Nanuq, for there are many in London who think with him."

Katara stood as well. "Have a pleasant rest of your afternoon, Mai. I hope you appreciate the truth you have found and the freedom it could bring."

Curtsies of goodbye were exchanged, and then with the appropriate pleasantries offered to him Mai could brush past her old love and open the door to leave Katara's simple rented home for good with the proverbial tail between her legs. But she paused, slightly, and the closed the door the better to hear the follow up to the exchange she just heard.

"Miss Si- Katara."

"Zuko."

"I- how are you?"

"Confused, mostly. Put upon, as well. Oh yes, I must not forget, gravely insulted, which is what I believe has been the desired effect of my last two visitors. I do hope you are not hoping to make a hat trick of it? I much preferred our way of speaking last - well, before your sister interrupted, at least."

"No, no, I could not- I mean, I supposed I could as I already have- but I do not wish to-!"

"Do sit down, Zuko, before you trip on something with all that pacing. Haru should be back momentarily with tea."

A chair creaked again. "I met Mr. Nanuq on the street outside."

"What were you doing on this street of all places? Have you some other acquaintance I must now offer apology to for stealing away your company?"

"I was coming to see you, in fact."

Haru looked straight at Mai with that professionally blank expression of his before he slipped inside to deliver the tea. All important conversation halted, as it seemed both parties were determined to let Haru know what a fine job he was doing and how they appreciated it, and then _Zuko_ insisted on pouring the tea and complimenting it profusely, as if he had somehow succeeded in turning into his uncle the Earl overnight. As Haru left, he looked straight at Mai again as he closed the door to the parlor with just a crack left - the better to hear by even from her shadowed place by the door. Something like sympathy was in his eyes as he vanished into some other room or hall.

"Zuko, why were you coming to see me?"

"It does not matter now, what matters is what Mr. Nanuq said outside."

"I suppose he is your uncle."

From the loud clink, Zuko was abusing the china in his passion, as was his wont when in a fit of passion. Mai knew these things about him. They were raised together. She was trained to manage men like him. Katara _was ~~regrettably~~_ a lady. He should not abuse her china while saying things like, "That is not why it was important! He can go stuff himself in a moldy canoe for all I care, the overproud polar bear. No, what he said itself is important. Katara, did you really refuse his demands? Specifically, the demand that you reject any proposal from me?"

Mai waited with baited breath as a reply took its sweet time coming.

"Yes. I refused to promise that you would not propose, as well. As if I could control your heart."

"You do, Katara."

"Zuko-"

"You still do. I can no more free it from your possession than cease breathing, and I would not want to do either."

Another pause stretched out, which Katara ended with a soft, "We talked about how I feel about interrupting."

He made a noise of dismay. "I apologize; we did. And I would like to keep talking about whatever you want for as long as you'll have me. I want to know how you feel about everything. Please."

"How I feel? How _I_ feel? You are risking so much to throw in with me, to throw yourself against all those old stooges sitting in smoke-filled rooms trying to run the world from the comfort of their pristine suits as they have made abundantly clear today. You skated on the edges of propriety to bring Sokka and Yue back into an understanding, and now you're here alone in a room with me, and I cannot fathom a single thing I have done to deserve this."

Through the sliver-thin crack of the door, she watched his lily hands grab up her rich earth ones. "You exist, Katara. That was all it took. And you forget, my other uncle as well as Miss Tatkret's father hold you in the highest esteem as well. Had I acted a little less foolishly last year when we met, well, no, I needed to learn those lessons."

"As did I."

"And we learned them." One of his hands let go and reach past what Mai could see. No doubt, to Katara's face. Mai's heart felt stopped. "I want to keep learning with you. From you. About you." Both his hands clasped hers. "Katara, my feelings remain unchanged from when I proposed last, except to grow deeper with richer knowledge of who you are as a woman and a friend. But if yours have not, only say the word and I will be silent forever on this subject, and content myself with your friendship - it is a rich jewel of inestimable value. But if your feelings have changed, please, just say the word, for I would desire nothing less than to be your husband for the rest of my life."

There was a hand on her arm, a body between her and the parlor ushering her away, leading her towards the door. Mai allowed this, for all she could think on was Katara's voice, hushed and full of emotions Mai was not sure she'd ever felt herself, saying, "Yes, Zuko, I will marry you."

* * *

The front door opened and, after an exchange of words Katara could not hear nor did she genuinely care to with Zuko's words ringing in her ears and his hands pulling her to her feet, closed again. She grinned wider than she had in her life since her mother died, and almost missed Haru stepping back into the room to collect the tea things.

As Zuko, still clutching her hands, started to turn red as he realized the footman probably heard much of what had been said, the shy loveable goof, Katara looked to her most trusted of the London staff. "Was there someone else at the door, Haru? I heard it open again."

He met her eyes with a warm look, open and honest. "Only a delivery meant for a different address. And congratulations, ma'am." He nodded to her, and then Zuko. "Sir." With that, Haru backed out of the room with the tray as Zuko kissed her hands again.

"Well my dear, shall we tell our families?"

"Now?"

"I see your point. We shall wait until our firstborn goes to university."

Katara rolled her eyes. "I meant that I would like to learn a few things about you, first, before we go spreading our news."

His brow furrowed slightly. "Like what?"

"Like this," and she kissed her fiance.

**Author's Note:**

> (Zuko definitely was also working on taking down Hahn, because unlike canon Darcy he's not gonna let this universe's Wickham just skate through a community of vulnerable people who are easy marks and easily identified as such (and he definitely doesn't have a brotherly grudge because Hahn's at least smart enough to know even Regency!Azula would put a knife in his ribs). He was probably working with Katara. Too bad he moved too slow. In case it's not clear, he is also throwing his support for Yue against Hahn. Mai doesn't know everything, to her dismay. Someone get her a cat, therapy, and far away from patriarchy.)


End file.
